Fun with Paper Tape Chads

Thread View: alt.folklore.computers

2 messages

[T] Back to Threads [V] Tree View [G] Group Articles

2 total messages Started by i... Ian Parberry Wed, 21 Feb 1990 02:07

#1497

Author: i... Ian Parberry
Date: Wed, 21 Feb 1990 02:07

22 lines
1712 bytes

On the subject of fun things to do with paper tape chads,
I just remembered hearing the following story as an undergraduate.

Back in the seventies, the wise folks at the Prentice Computer Centre
(do they still call it the apPrentice Computer Center?) decided that
paper tape chads were a useful resource to be used for packing material
in boxes of magnetic tape.  An acquaintance of mine picked up a dozen
or so boxes of tapes to be carried across town.  He loaded the boxes
into his car, taking care not to spill any chads from the several boxes
that did not have tops.

It being a warm day, he wound down his window at 100kph on the expressway.
He later reported it as like being on the inside of one of those Christmas
paperweights when you shake it up.

This also happened to a friend of mine with those polystyrene peanuts.
But nothing makes snow like a couple of cubic feet of chads.

____
Ian Parberry  i...@theory.cs.psu.edu  ian@psuvax1.UUCP  ian@psuvax1.BITNET
Dept of Computer Science, Penn State Univ, University Park, Pa 16802, USA
"Bureaucracy is expanding to meet the needs of an expanding bureaucracy"

Re: Fun with Paper Tape Chads

#1498

Author: Shannon Nelson
Date: Thu, 22 Feb 1990 00:17

18 lines
1450 bytes

My mother was a student at a university here in the northwest in
the early sixties, and tells an interesting story about what to
do with extra chad.

It seems that she and some friends loaded several balloons each
with a handful of this paper pest, then filled the balloons with
helium.  They let these balloons loose in the school's library.
The balloons would float around on the ceiling and eventually bump
into a light.  Upon getting too warm, the balloons would pop and
shower floor, books, students and irate librarians with paper.

I imagine that you could still find bits of the stuff sitting
around in UPS's library.

-- 
Shannon Nelson                    "Live, from Intel Scientific Computers..."
sha...@isc.intel.com                     ...!uunet!littlei!intelisc!shannon
(503) 629-7607                Intel disclaims all knowledge of my existence.

Thread Navigation

This is a paginated view of messages in the thread with full content displayed inline.

Messages are displayed in chronological order, with the original post highlighted in green.

Use pagination controls to navigate through all messages in large threads.

Back to All Threads